Yorkshire Naturalists at Ripon. 



177 



work for the conchologists, and many shells, including some 

 very large specimens of the great Swan Mussel {Anodoiiia 

 cyg7icEa), were found. Inside the grounds of the Abbey the 

 botanical guides were able to point out a good many flowers of 

 much interest, the most notable being a pretty and rare rose- 

 purple variety of the common Wood-sorrel. Herb Paris and the 

 Toothwort grew in the shrubberies, and the brilliant blue of the 

 \\ ood Forget-me-Not made gay the banks near the Abbey ruins, 

 whilst the ruins themselves were full of Primroses. The Mouse- 

 ear Chickweed [Cerastium glome ratii 111), the vernal Whitlow 

 Grass, the Golden Saxifrage, the Oxlip, the Bittercress, the 

 Yellow Archangel, the Spring W^oodrush, the Yellow Corydalis, 

 and the Wild Pink were among the flowers which were recorded. 



The geologists, led by the Rev. W. Lower Carter, F.G.S., 

 made some attempt to study the glacial geology of the locality. 

 It is evident that the whole of the Studley district was at the 

 height of the Ice Age overridden by the ice. Great banks of 

 sand and gravel, sometimes stratified, are being worked between 

 Ripon and Studley ; and there are indications of boulder clay, 

 with abundance of boulders of Wensleydale rocks, in many 

 parts of the district. All these facts indicate that there is an 

 interesting story to be unravelled. But the glacial geology 

 of the district has hitherto remained almost untouched, and 

 much requires to be done before any understanding of the broad 

 lines of its history is possible. Several hollows, which looked 

 upon the six-inch Ordnance map as though they might prove 

 to be deserted overflow valleys of some lake held up by the 

 Yaredale glacier, were visited, but with one possible exception 

 all proved not to be overflows, but to be merely accidental 

 inequalities in the surface of the gravels. Evidences were 

 noticed which suggested to Mr. Carter the probability that the 

 Skell in pre-glacial times turned to the left by the present lake 

 in Studley Park, and had its ancient course close to the site on 

 which Lord Ripon's house now stands ; that this course was 

 choked with gravel and clay by the instrumentality of the 

 Yaredale glacier, and that the course of the river by way ot 

 Mackershaw Woods — the way by which the botanists approached 

 Studley — is a new channel. How^ far that may be the fact 

 further work will, no doubt, in time reveal. The ornithologists 

 had a good time, for Ripon and Studley are delightful spots for 

 their studies. The Kingfisher was seen on the bank ot the 

 Laver ; Sand-Pipers abounded on the Skell, and the Marsh-Tit 

 — elsewhere rarely to be seen, but here abundant — the Cole-Tit, 



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